Deliberate crash landings on extraterrestrial bodies

The crash sites of SELENE, Chandrayaan-1, Lunar Prospector, and LCROSS. The ejecta from the Indian impactor is plainly visible here.
Deep Impact at Comet 9P/Tempel 1

These are tables of space probes (typically orbiters or components thereof) which have been deliberately destroyed at their objects of study, typically by hard landings or crash landings at the end of their respective missions and/or functionality. This suicidal endeavor not only precludes the hazards of orbital space debris and planetary contamination, but also provides the opportunity in some cases for terminal science given that the transient light released by the kinetic energy may be available for spectroscopy; the physical ejecta remains in place for further study. Even after soft landings had been mastered, NASA used crash landings to test whether Moon craters contained ice by crashing space probes into craters and testing the debris that got thrown out.[1]

Several rocket stages utilized during the Apollo space program were deliberately crashed on the Moon to aid seismic research, and four of the ascent stages of Apollo Lunar Modules were deliberately crashed onto the Moon after they had fulfilled their function.

The Deep Impact mission had its own purpose-built impactor which hit Comet 9P/Tempel 1. Terminal approaches to gas giants which resulted in the destruction of the space probe count as crash landings for the purposes of this article.

The crash landing sites themselves are of interest to space archeology.

Luna 1, not itself a lunar orbiter, was the first spacecraft designed as an impactor. It failed to hit the Moon in 1959, however, thus inadvertently becoming the first man-made object to leave geocentric orbit and enter a heliocentric orbit, where it remains to this day.

Mercury

Mission Country/Agency Date of landing/impact Coordinates Notes
MESSENGERUnited States United States30 April 2015Probably around 54.4° N, 149.9° W, near the crater JanáčekIntentionally crashed at end of mission.

Moon

Mission Country/Agency Date of landing/impact Coordinates Notes
Luna 2Soviet Union USSR13 September 195929°06′N 0°00′E / 29.1°N -0°E / 29.1; -0Intentional hard impact.
Ranger 4United States USA26 April 196215°30′S 130°42′W / 15.5°S 130.7°W / -15.5; -130.7Intentional hard impact; hit lunar far side due to failure of navigation system.
Ranger 6United States USA2 February 19649°24′N 21°30′E / 9.4°N 21.5°E / 9.4; 21.5Intentional hard impact.
Ranger 7United States USA31 July 196410°21′S 20°35′W / 10.35°S 20.58°W / -10.35; -20.58Intentional hard impact.
Ranger 8United States USA20 February 19652°43′N 24°37′E / 2.72°N 24.61°E / 2.72; 24.61Intentional hard impact.
Ranger 9United States USA24 March 196512°50′S 2°22′W / 12.83°S 2.37°W / -12.83; -2.37Intentional hard impact.
Lunar Orbiter 1United States USA29 October 1966Lunar orbiter, intentionally crashed at end of mission.
HitenJapan Japan10 April 1993Lunar orbiter, intentionally crashed at end of mission.
Lunar ProspectorUnited States USA31 July 199987°42′S 42°06′E / 87.7°S 42.1°E / -87.7; 42.1Lunar orbiter, intentionally crashed into polar crater at end of mission to test for liberation of water vapour (not detected).
SMART-1 ESA3 September 2006Lunar orbiter, intentionally crashed at end of mission.
Chandrayaan-1 Moon Impact ProbeIndia ISRO14 November 2008Impactor. Water found.
SELENE Rstar (Okina) Japan12 February 2009 Lunar orbiter, intentionally crashed at end of mission.
Chang'e 1 China1 March 2009Lunar orbiter, intentionally crashed at end of mission.
Kaguya Japan10 June 2009Lunar orbiter, intentionally crashed at end of mission.
LCROSS (Centaur)  USA 9 October 2009 84°40′30″S 48°43′30″W / 84.675°S 48.725°W / -84.675; -48.725
84°43′44″S 49°21′36″W / 84.729°S 49.360°W / -84.729; -49.360		 Impactors -main craft flew through the plume of lunar dusted created by its own upper rocket stage gathering data. Water confirmed.

Mars

Mission Country/Agency Date of landing/impact Coordinates Notes
Mars Science LaboratoryUnited States United States6 August 2012Bradbury Landing 4.5895°S 137.4417°EDebris fields created by the heat shield, Sky Crane, and other components.

Comets

Mission Country/Agency Date of landing/impact Coordinates Notes
Deep ImpactUnited States United States4 July 2005Tempel 1The "Smart Impactor" had a payload of 100 kg of copper, which at its closing velocity 10.2 km/s had the kinetic energy equivalent to 4.8 tonnes of TNT.

Jupiter

Mission Country/Agency Date of landing/impact Notes
Galileo atmospheric probeUnited States USA7 December 1995Functioned for 57.6 minutes.
GalileoUnited States USA21 September 2003Disintegrated in the Jovian atmosphere.

Saturn

Mission Country/ Agency Date of landing/impact Coordinates Notes
Cassini orbiterUnited States USA15 September 20179.4°N. 53°W.30 seconds of terminal data, more than anticipated, were received prior to Cassini's disintegration in Saturn's atmosphere.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Philips, T. (n.d.). Crash Landing on the Moon - NASA Science. Retrieved April 20, 2016, from https://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2006/28jul_crashlanding/
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